Day 23 - Issue 27
Hebrews 4:16 NLT
'So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.'
Our personal history has a long tail. It swishes and we return to face fears and insecurities established in our lives through our past negative experiences and observations. I see the specks of dust in other’s eyes while failing to recognise the plank in my own (Matthew 7:3-5). I spot the relational insecurity that Jayne exhibits resulting from her experience of betrayal in her first marriage. Yet, much more difficult for me is to acknowledge and address at an early stage my own rising anger fuelled from personal insecurity.
Of course, I’m completely forgiven by God. God forgets where I remember (Isaiah 43:25). Yet living like this sometimes eludes me. That long tail of guilt and shame flexes and my mind is consumed with negative memories.
To live in grace means no longer feeling the slightest need to defend my reputation, promote myself or grow anxious before others. Grace means I’m fully one with God. This is the whole purpose of God’s salvation and the future reality for all eternity. So no matter what circumstances confront me, I can rest in the knowledge that I can find God in all such circumstances.
Boldly we can approach God’s throne of grace. There we are fully embraced, loved and accepted by God. God’s grace is the key to your complete freedom. Grace is the space we find by discovering the presence of God in the very details of everyday life.
QUESTION: What helps you to see the grace of God when circumstances stress you?
PRAYER: Thank you, Father, that I can approach you as a beloved child, because that is what I am in Christ.
